WEBVTT
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Welcome to Networking Unleashed, Building Profitable
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Connections, the show where relationships turn
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into revenue and rooms turn into communities.
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I'm your host, Michael Foreman, and today's episode
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goes straight to the heart of what most professionals
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get wrong about networking. We're talking about
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connection. Real connection, not name tags, not
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awkward small talk, not hoping the right person
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happens to sit next to you. My guest today is
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someone who knows how to bring business professionals
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together on purpose, design networking events
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that actually work, and build in -person communities
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where relationships don't end when the event
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does. If you've ever walked into a room full
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of people and walked out with nothing to show
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for it, or if you've ever wondered why some events
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spark opportunity while others fall flat, this
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conversation is for you. Get ready to rethink
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how connections are created, how rooms are designed,
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and how communities grow. I'd like to welcome
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to my podcast, Matthew. Matthew, this is such
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an advantage for me. because you talk about exactly
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what I do. I go on stages. I talk about networking.
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I have a networking group that I meet weekly.
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I do everything that you're talking about. I
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am very interested in what you have to say. So
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I'd like to welcome Matthew to the podcast. Matt,
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would you mind just giving us a little background
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and telling us how you got here today? bit of
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tech and digital marketing. I was working at
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a shipping technology company where I met my
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now wife. She happened to be the boss's sister,
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the CEO's sister. And in order to preserve my
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own life and career, I branched and left that
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company and joined a little startup. So that
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little event, I started at a subscription software
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company as the only marketer, and I started a
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little meetup with some other marketer friends
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that were also solo marketers at bootstrapped
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small technology companies. And those two things
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happened from that one decision and have subsequently
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grown into two businesses that I run today, which
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is I do a lot of work with subscription brands,
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but that small little marketing meetup has grown
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into a really large community here in Utah with
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monthly meetups, workshops. We do two annual
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conferences and it's all about putting people
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in rooms because I've always found in my experience,
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I would rather learn from say someone like you,
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Michael, who's done it before, then go watch
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a YouTube video from somebody that I have no
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idea what's true or what's not. So that's the
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whole ethos behind our community is you can get
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solutions from your peers. How do we get peers
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in a room so that they start talking is really
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what we do. And that's perfect. It really is
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because I too believe that the one -on -one or
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the in -person networking goes far beyond that
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of Zoom or anything else. And here's the biggest
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reason. You can't pick up the vibe of the person.
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You can't pick up the vibe of the room. You get
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a feeling of how the room is just by when you
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walk in. And you don't get that through Zoom.
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You're a nice guy. You're a great looking guy.
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But I don't know what's happening here. All right.
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So let me jump into the questions. Number one,
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okay, connecting with business professionals,
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what separates introductions that go nowhere
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from ones that turn into real opportunity? This
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is so fascinating because I was actually helping
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my sister with this because she's in HR and I
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don't know a lot about HR, but I'm a connector.
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And so I actually asked her this yesterday. I
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said, can you tell me one thing about you that...
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would make you stand out compared to somebody
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else that does HR. And she started listing all
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the things that she doesn't. she's not necessarily
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super well trained in and then landed on the
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one thing which is i'm really great at hard conversations
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and helping people with management and interpersonal
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office relations and so i said great i then went
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into a group chat where i went in with a ton
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of other business leaders and said hey i have
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an hr professional who's really great with and
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i said what she told me and i got a response
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immediately from a leading hr person here in
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utah to say I'd love to connect with her. And
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the reason is it's being specific. I think one
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of the biggest mistakes that people make when
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they're networking is they think that, hey, I
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want to be really general because I don't know
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what opportunity might come my way. I want to
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be really open to opportunity. And I run into
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this all the time with people that are looking
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for jobs or looking to hire from somebody. And
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the mistake is that general is easy to forget.
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It's hard to remember. I meet so many people
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and in a room full of other people when you're
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networking, the only people that are going to
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stand out are people that are very specific in
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sharing what they do and in sharing what they
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need. So my suggestion for any networking event
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is be really specific. If you're young and you're
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looking for your first job, then be really specific
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about the opportunity you want. If you've been
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20 years in the business and you've done a million
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different things, be specific about the job that
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you want. Because that's going to make you feel
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remembered in people's mind. And they're also
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going to immediately think of some, that's because
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that's how we all talk to each other, right?
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Michael, if you're saying, hey, Matt, I'm having
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issues with HR because our current HR person
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can't deal with hiring and firing and all this
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stuff we're going through. Okay, boom. I think
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of the person I know. If you say, hey, I need
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a benefits person. I'm going to wonder if I know
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a benefits person. So being that specific, I
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think is the biggest difference in great networking.
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I can't agree enough. One thing I've always taught,
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and when I coach students, when I coach people,
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when I coach professionals, they always have
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all these things that they do. And I say, pick
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a lane. Because when you go out and you do your
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30 -second speech or whatever the hokey thing
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that is, but if you do five things, don't come
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out and say all five things. You have to pick
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one. Pick one. expand on it. The next week, you
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can pick a different one and expand on it. But
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while you're talking, just pick a lane. So that's
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very good advice. Okay, you've created successful
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networking events. What's the biggest reason
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most events fail to produce meaningful relationships?
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Yeah, I'd say that it's twofold. One is like
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within individual events, you need to really
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understand like the purpose of why people are
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coming, I think, right? If we're putting on an
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event to try to connect, say, legal professionals,
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that's not specific enough. Like we were just
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saying, what is the reason why somebody should
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attend? And if you understand that reason. very
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clearly, hey, we're trying to help legal law
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firms that are looking to expand into new markets.
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OK, that gives everybody a compelling reason
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to come. You can create content that matches
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that need and you can create other ways to facilitate
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that. So I do believe having a very specific
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goal for why people should show up. is an important
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way to do that. I then think the secondary thing
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is about consistency. I've seen too many times,
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I've been doing our event business for five,
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six years now. And there are plenty of times
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where people don't show up or nowhere near as
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many people show up as I thought would. And there
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are times when twice as many people show up.
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And so I think the other mistake is not understanding
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how much consistency. and feedback are important
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in that. It's not just, hey, we're going to do
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a networking event next month. And if it works,
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if it doesn't, we'll go on to the next thing.
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It's no, we're going to plan networking events
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over the next six months. And this is our commitment
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to doing those things. This is how we're going
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to show up. This is how we're going to try to
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get people excited, how we're going to get people
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coming back. Because I have found the fun thing
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about it is if people really enjoyed your event
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and you can't tell them that you have another
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one coming, you're missing that excitement. You
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want to capture that. So those are the two things,
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being really specific and building your events
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around those goals and doing them over and over
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again and not giving up just because it seems
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hard. So now the events that you've produced,
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are they events like businesses have tables or
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are they just big networking events? We generally,
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we do a little bit of both. So we'll generally
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do say like a speaker or a panel around a topic.
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That's something I really like because people
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like to come out and learn from somebody they
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know or have heard of, for example. And it's
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generally around a topic. So for us in the e
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-commerce space, there's so many different versions.
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There's so many different aspects of e -commerce
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that we can pick a lot of things, but we generally
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say, try to start with something that appeals
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to a broader audience. We get a couple of speakers,
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we have a panel and our whole thing is, Again,
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our ethos is really about getting into the weeds.
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I just hate high level surface responses, right?
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If you are trying to build an email newsletter
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for your business, which everybody here in some
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way, shape or form is probably trying to do,
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what landing page builder are you using? Are
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you running ads or not? What offer are you using
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to get people to opt into your email newsletter,
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right? I want to get into the weeds. And so we
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make sure that the session content, the panels
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and our moderator or moderators are going. because
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that's what people really want. And then we leave
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time after for Q &A and open networking. So we
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then facilitate conversations with everybody
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who's there. We don't necessarily do a ton with
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trying to make sure everybody in the room goes
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around, although we do some things often with
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trying to get people to show who they are for
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other people that want to connect with them.
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But that's really what it's all about for us
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is we want to provide some content. That's a
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lot of the reason why people show up. But the
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networking is what everybody talks about. as
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being the reason that they love it so much is
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the people they meet afterwards, the five to
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10 people they chatted with after the event.
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And sometimes that's the speakers, right? Sometimes
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I really wanted to connect with so -and -so and
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they were so helpful. Other times it was like,
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hey, somebody two rows behind me, it turns out
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they're in the same position I'm in and we're
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now sharing notes and we're going to get coffee
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next week. That happens all the time with our
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group. Excellent. Because when I produce an event,
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I have an event coming up actually in March.
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People talk about what's happening with other
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people. Yes, they came to see all the businesses,
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but they want to see other people. having the
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same problems that they're having and how do
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they get out of it? So part of our event, part
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of our weekly network meetings is that we take
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the last 20 minutes, we take two people and say,
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okay, what problems are you having? Or who do
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you want to go and see? Who can't you go in and
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see? Or who are you having a problem going and
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seeing? And undoubtedly 15 people saying, I have
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a contact. Yeah. And let me help you with that.
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And it goes. a long way, but I love so much more
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natural. It's so much more natural to where you
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meet somebody say that works on retention, but
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you're an ad buyer. They, the retention person,
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you become friends. They want to introduce you
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to the ad buyer in their company. Like it's just
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so much simpler where we just create a space.
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I do think that there's a lot of, as we've done
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it longer, we've consistently created spaces
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where people feel comfortable showing up to learn
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and connect. And those are the people that keep
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coming out. So if you're a really strong salesperson
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and you're viewing it as like potential legion
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for your service, those people do come, but they
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go most of the time because you're not getting
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a ton there. You'll turn people off. You show
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up with your authentic self, you're going to
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meet a ton of other people with their authentic
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selves. Absolutely. What we do with our networking
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events is I am heading the whole event, but I
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say you go in with a servant's heart. You go
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in looking to give. Instead of receiving. 100%.
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When you do that, you take all that pressure
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off your shoulders. And you're just there. All
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of a sudden, you're having a good time. You're
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meeting some great people. And you're looking
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to see how you can help other people. So it's
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a great combination. Okay. So which responsibility
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does the event host carry for the quality of
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connections that happen in a room? I'd say a
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hundred percent. That's what I feel anyway. Yeah.
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It's really, that's my biggest thing. It's if
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I'm there in a room when we got 50 people, everyone
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that I've met there or that I know there, I am
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trying to connect with somebody else there. And
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that's me doing the manual work of doing that.
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But it's also, as I've said, like I. We want
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people to show up that want to hang out a little
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while after or that view that networking connection
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piece as being really valuable because that's
00:13:22.139 --> 00:13:24.399
what we're offering. So it's a huge thing for
00:13:24.399 --> 00:13:27.580
me. It's what gets me excited. It's what motivates.
00:13:27.700 --> 00:13:29.899
Honestly, Michael, it's like what made me feel
00:13:29.899 --> 00:13:32.980
like this was a special calling for me was. not
00:13:32.980 --> 00:13:34.820
just being a B2B marketer and trying to sell
00:13:34.820 --> 00:13:36.700
software or something like that. It's, hey, no,
00:13:36.860 --> 00:13:39.379
actually I can facilitate connections for a lot
00:13:39.379 --> 00:13:41.820
of people. It makes me feel really good to help
00:13:41.820 --> 00:13:43.620
people get, like we have people that have bought
00:13:43.620 --> 00:13:45.480
and sold businesses out of our community that
00:13:45.480 --> 00:13:47.879
find their next job or that hire people. Like
00:13:47.879 --> 00:13:49.899
these are life -changing events that are coming
00:13:49.899 --> 00:13:51.879
out of a simple networking group. And that's
00:13:51.879 --> 00:13:54.000
really important to me. And I wouldn't do it
00:13:54.000 --> 00:13:56.559
if it was just a profit motivation or anything
00:13:56.559 --> 00:13:59.940
other than that too. Yeah, no, I'm with you 100%.
00:13:59.940 --> 00:14:02.919
I feel 100 % responsible. Because if they're
00:14:02.919 --> 00:14:06.240
coming to this meeting, I brought them all together.
00:14:06.500 --> 00:14:10.980
Okay, whether it's five businesses, 15, 25 businesses,
00:14:11.080 --> 00:14:14.259
I brought them together. So I want them to get
00:14:14.259 --> 00:14:18.220
the most out of it. I always feel 100 % responsible.
00:14:18.840 --> 00:14:23.480
Okay. What small detail, often overlooked, has
00:14:23.480 --> 00:14:26.679
the biggest impact on whether people feel comfortable
00:14:26.679 --> 00:14:33.899
engaging at an event? For me, I love self -deprecating
00:14:33.899 --> 00:14:40.580
humor, and I almost always will open with a joke
00:14:40.580 --> 00:14:43.700
making fun of... some clothing choice or how
00:14:43.700 --> 00:14:45.860
my wife helped me dress or something like that.
00:14:46.139 --> 00:14:48.559
I really do believe in creating open spaces.
00:14:48.639 --> 00:14:51.860
And I want people to feel like not to make it
00:14:51.860 --> 00:14:53.960
political in any way. I just want people, regardless
00:14:53.960 --> 00:14:56.940
of your race, creed, gender, color, whatever,
00:14:57.080 --> 00:14:59.500
that you feel welcome and that you feel like
00:14:59.500 --> 00:15:01.620
it's a safe space. And that's something that
00:15:01.620 --> 00:15:03.840
it's a little nuanced. We just try to make sure
00:15:03.840 --> 00:15:06.200
everybody feels like your voice matters. You
00:15:06.200 --> 00:15:08.960
can ask questions, you can be involved. And if
00:15:08.960 --> 00:15:11.039
somebody is like way off the rails, then I talk
00:15:11.039 --> 00:15:13.500
to them. one -on -one but that's something that
00:15:13.500 --> 00:15:15.240
we've gotten a lot of feedback too is that people
00:15:15.240 --> 00:15:17.960
feel comfortable like being wrong so we've also
00:15:17.960 --> 00:15:20.220
done some events where i asked the panels to
00:15:20.220 --> 00:15:22.639
share like the dumbest like a finance panel what's
00:15:22.639 --> 00:15:25.139
the dumbest blunder you made what's the silliest
00:15:25.139 --> 00:15:27.039
thing you did or the thing that you are just
00:15:27.039 --> 00:15:28.700
i wish i could go back in time and undo that
00:15:28.700 --> 00:15:31.519
because that makes the everyone there feel like
00:15:31.799 --> 00:15:33.940
Yeah, we're all trying to, we're all making mistakes.
00:15:33.980 --> 00:15:35.779
I'll try to figure out. So that's how I've approached
00:15:35.779 --> 00:15:37.840
it. And I feel like that's a really good one
00:15:37.840 --> 00:15:40.139
because otherwise like icebreakers and stuff
00:15:40.139 --> 00:15:42.559
like that are just a mechanism for trying to
00:15:42.559 --> 00:15:44.899
enable some of that. You keep talking about vibe.
00:15:45.279 --> 00:15:47.620
It's really hard to set a vibe, but people know
00:15:47.620 --> 00:15:50.679
when it's off. And so you have to look at small
00:15:50.679 --> 00:15:53.779
ways you're positively influencing the vibe in
00:15:53.779 --> 00:15:55.700
the room. Otherwise people just will be turned
00:15:55.700 --> 00:16:00.000
off. And that's so true. I didn't mean to turn
00:16:00.000 --> 00:16:03.159
away, but I wrote down the word blunder because
00:16:03.159 --> 00:16:06.539
in my next networking meeting, that is what I'm
00:16:06.539 --> 00:16:08.720
going to break out. Okay. I always start the
00:16:08.720 --> 00:16:12.039
meeting off with a self -deprecating joke or
00:16:12.039 --> 00:16:13.960
something or whatever. And it gets everybody
00:16:13.960 --> 00:16:16.600
to laugh. But I'm going to bring that up the
00:16:16.600 --> 00:16:19.299
next time. So I want to thank you for that. Okay.
00:16:20.519 --> 00:16:24.259
In your experience, what does the structure of
00:16:24.259 --> 00:16:28.509
an event? shape the behavior and mindset of the
00:16:28.509 --> 00:16:32.529
attendees. Yeah, no, that's a great one. I'll
00:16:32.529 --> 00:16:34.649
tell you this, an event structure that we've
00:16:34.649 --> 00:16:37.009
tried a couple of times and has not worked out
00:16:37.009 --> 00:16:39.610
well is I keep thinking I want to do a real hands
00:16:39.610 --> 00:16:42.129
-on. So let's say you're building an email, like,
00:16:42.149 --> 00:16:44.929
hey, come build the emails you need for your
00:16:44.929 --> 00:16:48.250
business, a welcome flow for new customers. And
00:16:48.250 --> 00:16:50.389
we want, we want to lay it, set out tables and
00:16:50.389 --> 00:16:52.590
people can bring their computers and we're going
00:16:52.590 --> 00:16:54.450
to go step by step. We'll have people in the
00:16:54.450 --> 00:16:56.549
audience to go person if there's questions and
00:16:56.549 --> 00:16:58.669
people just don't want to open up their computers
00:16:58.669 --> 00:17:00.870
and do that. They want to pay attention and take
00:17:00.870 --> 00:17:03.029
notes, but they want to work on it on their own.
00:17:03.370 --> 00:17:06.349
And so that structure I've struggled to make
00:17:06.349 --> 00:17:09.769
happen because I'm trying what I think will be
00:17:09.769 --> 00:17:12.970
helpful, but people aren't wanting to show up
00:17:12.970 --> 00:17:15.710
in that way. And so for me, I've found that.
00:17:16.220 --> 00:17:18.680
We just structure the content a little bit differently.
00:17:18.859 --> 00:17:22.640
So if it's more about, do I want somebody to
00:17:22.640 --> 00:17:25.220
show you their playbook? Hey, here's how we do
00:17:25.220 --> 00:17:27.660
emails. And we're going to step, step by step.
00:17:27.779 --> 00:17:30.059
And for me, the signal is how many times are
00:17:30.059 --> 00:17:32.579
people taking their phones out to take pictures
00:17:32.579 --> 00:17:35.460
of a screen? That's okay. I'm, I really want
00:17:35.460 --> 00:17:38.819
to look at that later versus say like a panel
00:17:38.819 --> 00:17:42.289
is more like sharing ideas. or we'll often do
00:17:42.289 --> 00:17:45.130
like round tables where we're facilitating like
00:17:45.130 --> 00:17:48.690
discussions amongst the group so that type of
00:17:48.690 --> 00:17:51.250
format does change how people show up and how
00:17:51.250 --> 00:17:54.509
they engage Am I taking notes furiously as you're
00:17:54.509 --> 00:17:56.950
walking through your playbook? Am I just getting
00:17:56.950 --> 00:17:59.650
some really great ideas here from the panel?
00:17:59.730 --> 00:18:02.430
Or, hey, I can actually ask questions for my
00:18:02.430 --> 00:18:04.650
specific problems in this roundtable format.
00:18:04.789 --> 00:18:07.089
It's how we've been figuring things out and are
00:18:07.089 --> 00:18:08.609
continuing. And we do those formats at our big
00:18:08.609 --> 00:18:10.509
conference. I try to do a version of each of
00:18:10.509 --> 00:18:12.730
those things because it's just a different layer
00:18:12.730 --> 00:18:16.190
of information and how people can digest that.
00:18:16.250 --> 00:18:17.950
Because it's really hard to say be at a full
00:18:17.950 --> 00:18:19.630
day workshop where you're taking notes furiously
00:18:19.630 --> 00:18:21.529
the entire time. You need to break it up for
00:18:21.529 --> 00:18:24.549
people. Yeah, my workshops are about three hours.
00:18:24.750 --> 00:18:28.329
So it's a half day workshop. But that's how I
00:18:28.329 --> 00:18:32.150
can tell if I'm getting the point across by how
00:18:32.150 --> 00:18:34.950
many times people take the cameras out and take
00:18:34.950 --> 00:18:38.269
a picture of my slide. So I'm a decent judge
00:18:38.269 --> 00:18:42.470
of that. And when nobody did it, my entire workshop,
00:18:42.730 --> 00:18:46.400
something was wrong. I messed up on somewhere,
00:18:46.500 --> 00:18:49.160
somehow. But I'll go back and I'll check that
00:18:49.160 --> 00:18:51.900
and I'll change that and correct it. But that's
00:18:51.900 --> 00:18:55.839
how I can tell. You focus on building communities
00:18:55.839 --> 00:18:59.720
in person. What changes when people see each
00:18:59.720 --> 00:19:02.799
other regularly instead of just one -off events?
00:19:04.640 --> 00:19:07.980
It's relationships and those connections. You
00:19:07.980 --> 00:19:10.819
start hearing about personal things like I'm
00:19:10.819 --> 00:19:13.730
having a baby, I'm getting married. moving to
00:19:13.730 --> 00:19:16.369
this new company. And the fun part about that
00:19:16.369 --> 00:19:18.910
is that does deepen the connection, but it also
00:19:18.910 --> 00:19:21.630
actually just creates more context for, hey,
00:19:21.690 --> 00:19:23.529
I'm moving to this new company. Do you know anybody
00:19:23.529 --> 00:19:25.910
who's doing X, Y, Z? Because we're hiring for
00:19:25.910 --> 00:19:28.750
that too, right? It's, hey, we're starting this
00:19:28.750 --> 00:19:31.250
new initiative. Do you want to partner on it
00:19:31.250 --> 00:19:33.190
with us? That kind of thing. That's what I find
00:19:33.190 --> 00:19:35.900
when more and more people show up. They become
00:19:35.900 --> 00:19:39.220
resources for each other. Like early on our community,
00:19:39.400 --> 00:19:42.660
I spent a lot of the connection was just me connecting
00:19:42.660 --> 00:19:45.720
people. And we have a Slack community with about
00:19:45.720 --> 00:19:48.660
1300 people in it. And a lot of early on was
00:19:48.660 --> 00:19:52.720
me just trying to poke the audience to get with
00:19:52.720 --> 00:19:55.079
some fake questions to get some people to respond.
00:19:56.740 --> 00:19:59.119
Now, when you're talking about a community, a
00:19:59.119 --> 00:20:02.200
real community is not based off of Matt's network
00:20:02.200 --> 00:20:04.500
of relationships. It's based off of the relationships
00:20:04.500 --> 00:20:07.259
in the group. And so that doesn't happen without.
00:20:08.279 --> 00:20:11.000
seeing people regularly or interacting with them
00:20:11.000 --> 00:20:13.119
on Slack in addition to seeing them regularly.
00:20:13.420 --> 00:20:16.279
And so now there are people that are solving
00:20:16.279 --> 00:20:18.200
each other's problems, and I have no idea that
00:20:18.200 --> 00:20:19.839
it's happening. There are people that are inviting
00:20:19.839 --> 00:20:21.680
people to upcoming events, and I have no idea
00:20:21.680 --> 00:20:23.460
that it's happening. So that's the beauty that
00:20:23.460 --> 00:20:25.759
you get when you start. That's why that consistency
00:20:25.759 --> 00:20:28.700
matters. It matters not just for your content,
00:20:28.740 --> 00:20:33.420
but for the people. I agree 100%. 100%. It's
00:20:33.420 --> 00:20:36.109
the difference. between a group of attendees
00:20:36.109 --> 00:20:41.809
and an actual business community? Yeah, I think
00:20:41.809 --> 00:20:44.430
it's, what are people doing when they're not
00:20:44.430 --> 00:20:46.230
there? And that's like similar to what I was
00:20:46.230 --> 00:20:48.029
just saying, is that I come here to learn and
00:20:48.029 --> 00:20:50.230
then I go back to my business. I come here to
00:20:50.230 --> 00:20:52.509
learn. I'm going to go talk to so -and -so and
00:20:52.509 --> 00:20:54.170
so because they can help me in my business too.
00:20:54.309 --> 00:20:56.509
And that's, I think that's that secondary one
00:20:56.509 --> 00:20:58.730
of feeling like you're connected, that you have
00:20:58.730 --> 00:21:01.549
friends and allies. Again, our whole biggest
00:21:01.549 --> 00:21:03.390
thing is like, if you've been using a tool or
00:21:03.390 --> 00:21:05.450
you're struggling with a landing page builder
00:21:05.450 --> 00:21:08.390
or an email builder, okay, I can hop onto my
00:21:08.390 --> 00:21:11.069
Slack group and ask this question. And then I
00:21:11.069 --> 00:21:13.250
get four or five responses and, oh yeah, I remember
00:21:13.250 --> 00:21:15.470
Jenny. She actually was on a panel about this
00:21:15.470 --> 00:21:17.390
two months ago. I'm going to, I'm going to pay
00:21:17.390 --> 00:21:19.759
attention to this or. Somebody else is going
00:21:19.759 --> 00:21:22.220
to jump on there and say, if you haven't heard
00:21:22.220 --> 00:21:24.880
from Jenny before, she's a real pro and she knows
00:21:24.880 --> 00:21:26.460
what she's talking about. And that's happening
00:21:26.460 --> 00:21:29.799
all the time because of those connections. Okay.
00:21:30.940 --> 00:21:34.920
Do you encourage collaboration instead of competition
00:21:34.920 --> 00:21:38.299
when you bring professionals from similar industries
00:21:38.299 --> 00:21:42.859
into the same room? Yeah, that one's a little
00:21:42.859 --> 00:21:45.779
tricky because... Sometimes we get, if we have
00:21:45.779 --> 00:21:47.859
sponsors involved, we have to be a little bit
00:21:47.859 --> 00:21:50.259
more careful, right? If I have a sponsor on email,
00:21:50.500 --> 00:21:53.500
I'm not going to bring in an email expert from
00:21:53.500 --> 00:21:58.000
a competitor. But other than that, we just push
00:21:58.000 --> 00:22:00.180
really hard on that collaboration element that
00:22:00.180 --> 00:22:04.500
if you feel threatened by other people that do
00:22:04.500 --> 00:22:06.859
what you do, this probably isn't going to be
00:22:06.859 --> 00:22:08.799
the best space for you because that's a really
00:22:08.799 --> 00:22:13.650
bad vibe. The vibe should be. I do A, B, C, you
00:22:13.650 --> 00:22:16.509
might do A, B, D, but that's okay. We have some
00:22:16.509 --> 00:22:19.609
overlap and we have different opinions. The audience,
00:22:19.750 --> 00:22:22.470
because from my perspective, the audience actually
00:22:22.470 --> 00:22:25.829
needs different and sometimes conflicting opinions.
00:22:26.329 --> 00:22:28.950
Because if they hear the same thing and they
00:22:28.950 --> 00:22:30.650
hear the same thing online and the same thing
00:22:30.650 --> 00:22:32.980
when they're hitting chat GPT. They're really
00:22:32.980 --> 00:22:34.799
not learning and they're not being pushed to
00:22:34.799 --> 00:22:36.900
try to test that as a hypothesis for their own
00:22:36.900 --> 00:22:38.900
business. Because as we all know, there's no
00:22:38.900 --> 00:22:40.900
real universal rules that work for everybody
00:22:40.900 --> 00:22:43.619
in every place and every time. And so competitive
00:22:43.619 --> 00:22:45.960
views are important. And we often will try to
00:22:45.960 --> 00:22:48.059
balance that with, say, a panel of three people
00:22:48.059 --> 00:22:50.819
might be a person who's, say, I'll use HR, say
00:22:50.819 --> 00:22:53.480
an HR representative from a company, an HR representative
00:22:53.480 --> 00:22:56.500
from a company, but then they have an HR consultant.
00:22:57.470 --> 00:22:59.650
And so that way we can get different perspectives.
00:22:59.769 --> 00:23:02.210
Hey, in our company of this size, these are our
00:23:02.210 --> 00:23:04.490
pain points and what we're doing. Well, our company
00:23:04.490 --> 00:23:06.029
is a little bit of a different size and we're
00:23:06.029 --> 00:23:07.970
using a different software and we have some of
00:23:07.970 --> 00:23:09.630
these other concerns. And then the third person's
00:23:09.630 --> 00:23:11.329
like, yeah, I've seen those two things and 50
00:23:11.329 --> 00:23:13.430
other things. And here's a lot of things to keep
00:23:13.430 --> 00:23:16.029
in mind. And those different perspectives are,
00:23:16.069 --> 00:23:18.170
I think, what's most valuable when you have a
00:23:18.170 --> 00:23:19.750
room full of 50 people and you're not exactly
00:23:19.750 --> 00:23:22.230
sure. Not everybody has the same problems that
00:23:22.230 --> 00:23:25.700
need to be solved. Companies vary in size, obviously,
00:23:25.700 --> 00:23:29.180
and use different size. I'm just using your HR
00:23:29.180 --> 00:23:33.339
thing. But you can't compare a company that has
00:23:33.339 --> 00:23:37.319
50 employees to one that has 15 employees to
00:23:37.319 --> 00:23:40.519
the one that just has a mom and pop. So different
00:23:40.519 --> 00:23:44.019
needs for different people. And different people,
00:23:44.180 --> 00:23:49.119
they promote exactly what they're after, which
00:23:49.119 --> 00:23:53.009
is, oh, I just like companies that are. 50 people
00:23:53.009 --> 00:23:56.170
and above. I only like people, I don't like companies
00:23:56.170 --> 00:23:59.910
from 20 to 50 employees. I only, and they have
00:23:59.910 --> 00:24:03.150
their differences. So you get a completely different
00:24:03.150 --> 00:24:07.009
perspective on the same issue, but from different
00:24:07.009 --> 00:24:12.009
companies. So yes. Okay. So what habits should
00:24:12.009 --> 00:24:15.710
attendees adopt after an event to turn good conversation
00:24:15.710 --> 00:24:19.759
into lasting relationships? I think it comes
00:24:19.759 --> 00:24:21.759
back to this specific thing. I always, it's not
00:24:21.759 --> 00:24:24.019
just how you show up when you're being like,
00:24:24.160 --> 00:24:26.539
I'm specifically that this is what I'm, how I'm
00:24:26.539 --> 00:24:28.599
showing with this event, but also specific asks.
00:24:29.140 --> 00:24:31.900
I think for the hard part is when you meet somebody
00:24:31.900 --> 00:24:34.599
new, they're doing cool stuff. You think maybe
00:24:34.599 --> 00:24:36.559
you could be friends or that you should collaborate
00:24:36.559 --> 00:24:39.279
on something. Can you think of a specific next
00:24:39.279 --> 00:24:42.660
step? Hey, I'd love to pick your brain on this
00:24:42.660 --> 00:24:44.880
one area of your business. Can we get coffee
00:24:44.880 --> 00:24:47.329
sometime? do a Zoom call or something like that.
00:24:47.390 --> 00:24:49.430
I think that's really important is just being
00:24:49.430 --> 00:24:51.549
really specific in how you show up, but also
00:24:51.549 --> 00:24:54.410
what you ask of other people. And then, yeah,
00:24:54.509 --> 00:24:56.670
I think it is just like looking for, I always
00:24:56.670 --> 00:24:58.589
like asking other people too, what other events
00:24:58.589 --> 00:25:00.430
are you going to? What other things like this
00:25:00.430 --> 00:25:02.990
are going on? Because there might be stuff that,
00:25:03.009 --> 00:25:04.990
you know, that maybe I didn't know about so that
00:25:04.990 --> 00:25:06.630
I could show up to that too. And that's another
00:25:06.630 --> 00:25:12.180
touch point. Yeah, my biggest thing. with when
00:25:12.180 --> 00:25:15.900
I go on stages or I do a workshop or even coaching,
00:25:16.079 --> 00:25:19.740
I always tell them that the follow -up is so
00:25:19.740 --> 00:25:21.920
much more important than even meeting the person.
00:25:22.579 --> 00:25:25.440
Your follow -up is just so important. And it's
00:25:25.440 --> 00:25:28.619
not only that you follow up, but how you follow
00:25:28.619 --> 00:25:31.440
up, when you follow up, what do you say when
00:25:31.440 --> 00:25:34.359
you follow up? All of this is so very important,
00:25:34.579 --> 00:25:36.420
whether you're going to turn the other person
00:25:36.420 --> 00:25:38.920
off or just say, hey, that's a great idea. Let's
00:25:38.920 --> 00:25:41.240
grab a cup of coffee. There's so much involved
00:25:41.240 --> 00:25:45.380
with that. Okay, let's bring this full circle.
00:25:46.119 --> 00:25:49.099
If someone wanted to build a strong, trusted
00:25:49.099 --> 00:25:52.279
business community from scratch, what's the first
00:25:52.279 --> 00:25:55.220
decision that they must get? You got to understand
00:25:55.220 --> 00:25:58.019
the need. It's really easy to see a community
00:25:58.019 --> 00:26:01.000
or people look at my business and they go, oh,
00:26:01.039 --> 00:26:03.720
wow, if I could get. 50 of my customers in a
00:26:03.720 --> 00:26:05.839
room every month voluntarily, that would be amazing.
00:26:06.039 --> 00:26:08.240
It would be amazing. That's not how the world
00:26:08.240 --> 00:26:10.859
works. So understanding a real need. And so for
00:26:10.859 --> 00:26:13.359
us, like I've said, that need is around people
00:26:13.359 --> 00:26:16.980
really wanting insightful information on what
00:26:16.980 --> 00:26:19.140
they could do inside their business and also
00:26:19.140 --> 00:26:22.599
the power of community. You need to be thinking
00:26:22.599 --> 00:26:24.720
really clearly about what problem you're solving
00:26:24.720 --> 00:26:27.059
and also think through all the other ways that
00:26:27.059 --> 00:26:29.319
people are answering that problem. I think the
00:26:29.319 --> 00:26:31.079
hard part is like entrepreneurs and business
00:26:31.079 --> 00:26:32.779
owners is that we think that what we're coming
00:26:32.779 --> 00:26:36.880
up with is unique when the reality is 55 ,000,
00:26:36.920 --> 00:26:39.039
5 million people are already thinking of that
00:26:39.039 --> 00:26:41.000
same problem and have different opinions on it.
00:26:41.039 --> 00:26:43.700
So you come up with that idea and then test it.
00:26:43.740 --> 00:26:45.759
It should be like any other business idea or
00:26:45.759 --> 00:26:47.539
any kind of experiment. You have a hypothesis.
00:26:47.759 --> 00:26:51.059
Hey, we think that. We're struggling to get operations
00:26:51.059 --> 00:26:53.279
people, like people that do sourcing and fulfillment.
00:26:53.519 --> 00:26:56.319
They're typically not big networkers, like marketers
00:26:56.319 --> 00:26:59.440
or networkers, usually, in our experience. We're
00:26:59.440 --> 00:27:03.079
trying to create more opportunities for those
00:27:03.079 --> 00:27:06.000
operators to come out because we think that they
00:27:06.000 --> 00:27:08.660
would actually appreciate connecting with their
00:27:08.660 --> 00:27:11.339
peers. There's just not really a format for them
00:27:11.339 --> 00:27:13.599
to do that. I might be totally wrong in the next
00:27:13.599 --> 00:27:15.950
couple of months. pivot into something else for
00:27:15.950 --> 00:27:17.589
that part of our group. But that's how you got
00:27:17.589 --> 00:27:20.049
to evaluate the pain point and think if your
00:27:20.049 --> 00:27:23.390
solution will actually answer that. And then
00:27:23.390 --> 00:27:24.769
again, it comes to everything else I've already
00:27:24.769 --> 00:27:27.109
said about, you have a goal now for the event.
00:27:27.190 --> 00:27:29.690
You need to make sure that you're managing everything
00:27:29.690 --> 00:27:31.829
related to the event so that goal can be achieved.
00:27:32.950 --> 00:27:36.789
It's great, valuable information. This is such
00:27:36.789 --> 00:27:39.890
golden information. I can't begin to tell you.
00:27:39.930 --> 00:27:41.970
And I'm saying that from somebody who knows.
00:27:42.269 --> 00:27:45.049
Okay. So obviously you just know what you're
00:27:45.049 --> 00:27:49.210
talking about. If somebody wants to contact you
00:27:49.210 --> 00:27:52.569
about an event or they live in Utah or whatever
00:27:52.569 --> 00:27:55.130
the case may be, what's the best way that they
00:27:55.130 --> 00:27:57.529
can get ahold of you? Yeah, you can find me on
00:27:57.529 --> 00:27:59.730
LinkedIn, Matthew Holman on LinkedIn, or come
00:27:59.730 --> 00:28:02.529
check out our website, ccatalyst .co, if you
00:28:02.529 --> 00:28:04.730
want to come to an event in the future. We're
00:28:04.730 --> 00:28:06.750
open, willing. When you were asking that competition
00:28:06.750 --> 00:28:08.569
question earlier, I was smiling, thinking like
00:28:08.569 --> 00:28:10.769
there are other communities and events and conferences
00:28:10.769 --> 00:28:13.390
that have come and gone in Utah. And we love
00:28:13.390 --> 00:28:15.130
working and collaborating with anybody because
00:28:15.130 --> 00:28:17.289
our whole mission is just to connect and empower
00:28:17.289 --> 00:28:20.490
people. So we don't view anybody as a competitor
00:28:20.490 --> 00:28:24.579
in that space. Great. This is the difference
00:28:24.579 --> 00:28:27.859
between attending events and belonging to something
00:28:27.859 --> 00:28:31.700
bigger. Real networking isn't accidental. It's
00:28:31.700 --> 00:28:34.839
designed. It's guided. And when it's done, it
00:28:34.839 --> 00:28:37.720
creates a momentum that carries long after the
00:28:37.720 --> 00:28:40.779
room emptied. If today's conversation made you
00:28:40.779 --> 00:28:44.099
rethink how you show up at events, who you connect
00:28:44.099 --> 00:28:47.279
with, or how you would build relationships over
00:28:47.279 --> 00:28:51.099
time, take one action this week. Reach out, follow
00:28:51.099 --> 00:28:54.779
up. Be intentional. Share this episode with someone
00:28:54.779 --> 00:28:57.819
who hosts events, builds communities, or wants
00:28:57.819 --> 00:29:00.940
stronger business relationships. Make sure you
00:29:00.940 --> 00:29:03.680
subscribe to Networking Unleashed, building profitable
00:29:03.680 --> 00:29:06.000
connections, so you don't miss conversations
00:29:06.000 --> 00:29:08.940
that help you connect smarter and grow stronger.
00:29:09.119 --> 00:29:12.059
And if you're ready to build relationships that
00:29:12.059 --> 00:29:15.319
actually move your business forward, visit foreman
00:29:15.319 --> 00:29:18.000
.com to learn how I work with professionals,
00:29:18.160 --> 00:29:21.359
teams, and organizations. So until next time,
00:29:21.400 --> 00:29:23.859
show up with purpose, connect with intention,
00:29:24.119 --> 00:29:27.960
and build communities that last. Matt, I want
00:29:27.960 --> 00:29:29.740
to thank you again for coming on the podcast.
00:29:30.119 --> 00:29:33.240
You were a great guest. Thanks. You're a great
00:29:33.240 --> 00:29:39.940
host. Well, hold on, folks. Don't go anywhere.
00:29:40.259 --> 00:29:43.599
Let's hear from our sponsors. David Neal, co
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-founder Revved Up Kids. Revved Up Kids is on
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They provide prevention training programs for
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children, teens, and adults. To learn more, go
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to revvedupkids .org. Henry Kaplan, Century 21.
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When it comes to making the biggest financial
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decision of your life, leave it in the hands
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of a proven professional, Henry Kaplan. Henry
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is a global real estate agent with Century 21,
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celebrating his 41st year in business. No matter
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where you're moving, Henry has the right connections
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for you. You can contact Henry at 561 -427 -4888.
00:30:31.259 --> 00:30:34.299
A huge thank you to our guests for sharing such...
00:30:34.680 --> 00:30:38.000
insights today. And of course, a big shout out
00:30:38.000 --> 00:30:41.319
to you, our amazing listeners, for tuning in
00:30:41.319 --> 00:30:44.220
and spending your time with us. If you're interested
00:30:44.220 --> 00:30:47.559
in my digital courses, being coached or having
00:30:47.559 --> 00:30:50.700
me come and talk to your company, just go to
00:30:50.700 --> 00:30:53.920
Michael and fill out the request form. Remember,
00:30:54.259 --> 00:30:57.559
networking isn't about being perfect. It's about
00:30:57.559 --> 00:31:00.500
being present. So take what you've learned today,
00:31:00.680 --> 00:31:03.299
get out there and make some meaningful connections.
00:31:04.029 --> 00:31:06.950
If you've enjoyed this episode, please don't
00:31:06.950 --> 00:31:10.289
forget to subscribe. Leave us a review and share
00:31:10.289 --> 00:31:12.490
it with someone who could use a little networking
00:31:12.490 --> 00:31:15.490
inspiration. Let's keep the conversation going.
00:31:15.670 --> 00:31:20.210
You can find me on Apple, Spotify, Pandora, YouTube,
00:31:20.369 --> 00:31:25.009
or my website, foreman .com slash podcasts.
00:00:16.719 --> 00:00:20.019
Welcome to Networking Unleashed, Building Profitable
00:00:20.019 --> 00:00:23.239
Connections, the show where relationships turn
00:00:23.239 --> 00:00:26.019
into revenue and rooms turn into communities.
00:00:26.480 --> 00:00:29.980
I'm your host, Michael Foreman, and today's episode
00:00:29.980 --> 00:00:33.439
goes straight to the heart of what most professionals
00:00:33.439 --> 00:00:37.280
get wrong about networking. We're talking about
00:00:37.280 --> 00:00:41.359
connection. Real connection, not name tags, not
00:00:41.359 --> 00:00:44.759
awkward small talk, not hoping the right person
00:00:44.759 --> 00:00:48.520
happens to sit next to you. My guest today is
00:00:48.520 --> 00:00:51.179
someone who knows how to bring business professionals
00:00:51.179 --> 00:00:55.219
together on purpose, design networking events
00:00:55.219 --> 00:00:58.780
that actually work, and build in -person communities
00:00:58.780 --> 00:01:02.219
where relationships don't end when the event
00:01:02.219 --> 00:01:06.040
does. If you've ever walked into a room full
00:01:06.040 --> 00:01:08.599
of people and walked out with nothing to show
00:01:08.599 --> 00:01:12.140
for it, or if you've ever wondered why some events
00:01:12.140 --> 00:01:15.840
spark opportunity while others fall flat, this
00:01:15.840 --> 00:01:19.159
conversation is for you. Get ready to rethink
00:01:19.159 --> 00:01:22.459
how connections are created, how rooms are designed,
00:01:22.739 --> 00:01:26.439
and how communities grow. I'd like to welcome
00:01:26.439 --> 00:01:30.099
to my podcast, Matthew. Matthew, this is such
00:01:30.099 --> 00:01:34.700
an advantage for me. because you talk about exactly
00:01:34.700 --> 00:01:39.159
what I do. I go on stages. I talk about networking.
00:01:39.519 --> 00:01:42.400
I have a networking group that I meet weekly.
00:01:42.640 --> 00:01:45.340
I do everything that you're talking about. I
00:01:45.340 --> 00:01:48.799
am very interested in what you have to say. So
00:01:48.799 --> 00:01:51.640
I'd like to welcome Matthew to the podcast. Matt,
00:01:51.879 --> 00:01:53.859
would you mind just giving us a little background
00:01:53.859 --> 00:02:01.760
and telling us how you got here today? bit of
00:02:01.760 --> 00:02:04.379
tech and digital marketing. I was working at
00:02:04.379 --> 00:02:06.340
a shipping technology company where I met my
00:02:06.340 --> 00:02:09.240
now wife. She happened to be the boss's sister,
00:02:09.639 --> 00:02:12.539
the CEO's sister. And in order to preserve my
00:02:12.539 --> 00:02:15.219
own life and career, I branched and left that
00:02:15.219 --> 00:02:17.419
company and joined a little startup. So that
00:02:17.419 --> 00:02:20.740
little event, I started at a subscription software
00:02:20.740 --> 00:02:23.719
company as the only marketer, and I started a
00:02:23.719 --> 00:02:25.719
little meetup with some other marketer friends
00:02:25.719 --> 00:02:28.960
that were also solo marketers at bootstrapped
00:02:28.960 --> 00:02:32.539
small technology companies. And those two things
00:02:32.539 --> 00:02:35.419
happened from that one decision and have subsequently
00:02:35.419 --> 00:02:37.860
grown into two businesses that I run today, which
00:02:37.860 --> 00:02:40.539
is I do a lot of work with subscription brands,
00:02:40.800 --> 00:02:43.379
but that small little marketing meetup has grown
00:02:43.379 --> 00:02:46.939
into a really large community here in Utah with
00:02:46.939 --> 00:02:49.960
monthly meetups, workshops. We do two annual
00:02:49.960 --> 00:02:52.580
conferences and it's all about putting people
00:02:52.580 --> 00:02:55.319
in rooms because I've always found in my experience,
00:02:55.479 --> 00:02:57.840
I would rather learn from say someone like you,
00:02:57.879 --> 00:02:59.740
Michael, who's done it before, then go watch
00:02:59.740 --> 00:03:01.539
a YouTube video from somebody that I have no
00:03:01.539 --> 00:03:04.080
idea what's true or what's not. So that's the
00:03:04.080 --> 00:03:06.620
whole ethos behind our community is you can get
00:03:06.620 --> 00:03:09.780
solutions from your peers. How do we get peers
00:03:09.780 --> 00:03:11.879
in a room so that they start talking is really
00:03:11.879 --> 00:03:15.580
what we do. And that's perfect. It really is
00:03:15.580 --> 00:03:19.919
because I too believe that the one -on -one or
00:03:19.919 --> 00:03:24.180
the in -person networking goes far beyond that
00:03:24.180 --> 00:03:27.539
of Zoom or anything else. And here's the biggest
00:03:27.539 --> 00:03:31.039
reason. You can't pick up the vibe of the person.
00:03:31.240 --> 00:03:34.520
You can't pick up the vibe of the room. You get
00:03:34.520 --> 00:03:37.580
a feeling of how the room is just by when you
00:03:37.580 --> 00:03:39.919
walk in. And you don't get that through Zoom.
00:03:40.080 --> 00:03:42.500
You're a nice guy. You're a great looking guy.
00:03:42.740 --> 00:03:45.560
But I don't know what's happening here. All right.
00:03:45.560 --> 00:03:48.870
So let me jump into the questions. Number one,
00:03:48.930 --> 00:03:51.909
okay, connecting with business professionals,
00:03:52.129 --> 00:03:55.689
what separates introductions that go nowhere
00:03:55.689 --> 00:04:00.090
from ones that turn into real opportunity? This
00:04:00.090 --> 00:04:01.849
is so fascinating because I was actually helping
00:04:01.849 --> 00:04:04.949
my sister with this because she's in HR and I
00:04:04.949 --> 00:04:07.650
don't know a lot about HR, but I'm a connector.
00:04:07.909 --> 00:04:09.650
And so I actually asked her this yesterday. I
00:04:09.650 --> 00:04:13.129
said, can you tell me one thing about you that...
00:04:13.370 --> 00:04:15.710
would make you stand out compared to somebody
00:04:15.710 --> 00:04:18.629
else that does HR. And she started listing all
00:04:18.629 --> 00:04:20.879
the things that she doesn't. she's not necessarily
00:04:20.879 --> 00:04:23.240
super well trained in and then landed on the
00:04:23.240 --> 00:04:26.180
one thing which is i'm really great at hard conversations
00:04:26.180 --> 00:04:29.100
and helping people with management and interpersonal
00:04:29.100 --> 00:04:32.980
office relations and so i said great i then went
00:04:32.980 --> 00:04:35.220
into a group chat where i went in with a ton
00:04:35.220 --> 00:04:37.360
of other business leaders and said hey i have
00:04:37.360 --> 00:04:39.779
an hr professional who's really great with and
00:04:39.779 --> 00:04:42.079
i said what she told me and i got a response
00:04:42.079 --> 00:04:45.319
immediately from a leading hr person here in
00:04:45.319 --> 00:04:48.189
utah to say I'd love to connect with her. And
00:04:48.189 --> 00:04:51.670
the reason is it's being specific. I think one
00:04:51.670 --> 00:04:54.029
of the biggest mistakes that people make when
00:04:54.029 --> 00:04:56.449
they're networking is they think that, hey, I
00:04:56.449 --> 00:04:58.550
want to be really general because I don't know
00:04:58.550 --> 00:05:01.170
what opportunity might come my way. I want to
00:05:01.170 --> 00:05:03.209
be really open to opportunity. And I run into
00:05:03.209 --> 00:05:04.370
this all the time with people that are looking
00:05:04.370 --> 00:05:07.069
for jobs or looking to hire from somebody. And
00:05:07.069 --> 00:05:10.589
the mistake is that general is easy to forget.
00:05:10.949 --> 00:05:13.050
It's hard to remember. I meet so many people
00:05:13.050 --> 00:05:14.949
and in a room full of other people when you're
00:05:14.949 --> 00:05:16.629
networking, the only people that are going to
00:05:16.629 --> 00:05:19.689
stand out are people that are very specific in
00:05:19.689 --> 00:05:21.850
sharing what they do and in sharing what they
00:05:21.850 --> 00:05:24.889
need. So my suggestion for any networking event
00:05:24.889 --> 00:05:28.029
is be really specific. If you're young and you're
00:05:28.029 --> 00:05:30.550
looking for your first job, then be really specific
00:05:30.550 --> 00:05:32.269
about the opportunity you want. If you've been
00:05:32.269 --> 00:05:34.269
20 years in the business and you've done a million
00:05:34.269 --> 00:05:37.170
different things, be specific about the job that
00:05:37.170 --> 00:05:39.259
you want. Because that's going to make you feel
00:05:39.259 --> 00:05:41.879
remembered in people's mind. And they're also
00:05:41.879 --> 00:05:44.860
going to immediately think of some, that's because
00:05:44.860 --> 00:05:46.220
that's how we all talk to each other, right?
00:05:46.339 --> 00:05:48.220
Michael, if you're saying, hey, Matt, I'm having
00:05:48.220 --> 00:05:50.500
issues with HR because our current HR person
00:05:50.500 --> 00:05:53.740
can't deal with hiring and firing and all this
00:05:53.740 --> 00:05:56.660
stuff we're going through. Okay, boom. I think
00:05:56.660 --> 00:05:58.500
of the person I know. If you say, hey, I need
00:05:58.500 --> 00:06:01.040
a benefits person. I'm going to wonder if I know
00:06:01.040 --> 00:06:03.160
a benefits person. So being that specific, I
00:06:03.160 --> 00:06:06.000
think is the biggest difference in great networking.
00:06:07.019 --> 00:06:11.240
I can't agree enough. One thing I've always taught,
00:06:11.379 --> 00:06:15.180
and when I coach students, when I coach people,
00:06:15.379 --> 00:06:18.339
when I coach professionals, they always have
00:06:18.339 --> 00:06:21.800
all these things that they do. And I say, pick
00:06:21.800 --> 00:06:25.360
a lane. Because when you go out and you do your
00:06:25.360 --> 00:06:27.819
30 -second speech or whatever the hokey thing
00:06:27.819 --> 00:06:31.639
that is, but if you do five things, don't come
00:06:31.639 --> 00:06:35.399
out and say all five things. You have to pick
00:06:35.399 --> 00:06:39.230
one. Pick one. expand on it. The next week, you
00:06:39.230 --> 00:06:41.930
can pick a different one and expand on it. But
00:06:41.930 --> 00:06:44.730
while you're talking, just pick a lane. So that's
00:06:44.730 --> 00:06:48.689
very good advice. Okay, you've created successful
00:06:48.689 --> 00:06:52.149
networking events. What's the biggest reason
00:06:52.149 --> 00:06:56.089
most events fail to produce meaningful relationships?
00:06:57.949 --> 00:07:00.610
Yeah, I'd say that it's twofold. One is like
00:07:00.610 --> 00:07:04.009
within individual events, you need to really
00:07:04.009 --> 00:07:06.410
understand like the purpose of why people are
00:07:06.410 --> 00:07:08.550
coming, I think, right? If we're putting on an
00:07:08.550 --> 00:07:11.089
event to try to connect, say, legal professionals,
00:07:11.430 --> 00:07:13.529
that's not specific enough. Like we were just
00:07:13.529 --> 00:07:15.350
saying, what is the reason why somebody should
00:07:15.350 --> 00:07:18.569
attend? And if you understand that reason. very
00:07:18.569 --> 00:07:22.290
clearly, hey, we're trying to help legal law
00:07:22.290 --> 00:07:25.790
firms that are looking to expand into new markets.
00:07:26.009 --> 00:07:28.170
OK, that gives everybody a compelling reason
00:07:28.170 --> 00:07:30.870
to come. You can create content that matches
00:07:30.870 --> 00:07:33.430
that need and you can create other ways to facilitate
00:07:33.430 --> 00:07:35.670
that. So I do believe having a very specific
00:07:35.670 --> 00:07:38.449
goal for why people should show up. is an important
00:07:38.449 --> 00:07:41.930
way to do that. I then think the secondary thing
00:07:41.930 --> 00:07:44.689
is about consistency. I've seen too many times,
00:07:44.829 --> 00:07:47.490
I've been doing our event business for five,
00:07:47.529 --> 00:07:49.970
six years now. And there are plenty of times
00:07:49.970 --> 00:07:52.569
where people don't show up or nowhere near as
00:07:52.569 --> 00:07:55.129
many people show up as I thought would. And there
00:07:55.129 --> 00:07:57.250
are times when twice as many people show up.
00:07:57.329 --> 00:07:59.589
And so I think the other mistake is not understanding
00:07:59.589 --> 00:08:02.910
how much consistency. and feedback are important
00:08:02.910 --> 00:08:04.709
in that. It's not just, hey, we're going to do
00:08:04.709 --> 00:08:06.790
a networking event next month. And if it works,
00:08:06.810 --> 00:08:08.449
if it doesn't, we'll go on to the next thing.
00:08:08.470 --> 00:08:10.670
It's no, we're going to plan networking events
00:08:10.670 --> 00:08:13.250
over the next six months. And this is our commitment
00:08:13.250 --> 00:08:14.949
to doing those things. This is how we're going
00:08:14.949 --> 00:08:16.410
to show up. This is how we're going to try to
00:08:16.410 --> 00:08:18.189
get people excited, how we're going to get people
00:08:18.189 --> 00:08:20.889
coming back. Because I have found the fun thing
00:08:20.889 --> 00:08:23.230
about it is if people really enjoyed your event
00:08:23.230 --> 00:08:25.089
and you can't tell them that you have another
00:08:25.089 --> 00:08:27.699
one coming, you're missing that excitement. You
00:08:27.699 --> 00:08:30.259
want to capture that. So those are the two things,
00:08:30.319 --> 00:08:32.639
being really specific and building your events
00:08:32.639 --> 00:08:35.419
around those goals and doing them over and over
00:08:35.419 --> 00:08:37.200
again and not giving up just because it seems
00:08:37.200 --> 00:08:41.080
hard. So now the events that you've produced,
00:08:41.200 --> 00:08:45.940
are they events like businesses have tables or
00:08:45.940 --> 00:08:49.940
are they just big networking events? We generally,
00:08:50.000 --> 00:08:52.019
we do a little bit of both. So we'll generally
00:08:52.019 --> 00:08:55.360
do say like a speaker or a panel around a topic.
00:08:55.440 --> 00:08:57.080
That's something I really like because people
00:08:57.080 --> 00:08:59.440
like to come out and learn from somebody they
00:08:59.440 --> 00:09:01.480
know or have heard of, for example. And it's
00:09:01.480 --> 00:09:03.600
generally around a topic. So for us in the e
00:09:03.600 --> 00:09:05.259
-commerce space, there's so many different versions.
00:09:05.340 --> 00:09:07.480
There's so many different aspects of e -commerce
00:09:07.480 --> 00:09:10.019
that we can pick a lot of things, but we generally
00:09:10.019 --> 00:09:12.460
say, try to start with something that appeals
00:09:12.460 --> 00:09:15.860
to a broader audience. We get a couple of speakers,
00:09:16.080 --> 00:09:18.840
we have a panel and our whole thing is, Again,
00:09:18.960 --> 00:09:21.559
our ethos is really about getting into the weeds.
00:09:21.740 --> 00:09:24.519
I just hate high level surface responses, right?
00:09:24.600 --> 00:09:26.279
If you are trying to build an email newsletter
00:09:26.279 --> 00:09:28.360
for your business, which everybody here in some
00:09:28.360 --> 00:09:30.139
way, shape or form is probably trying to do,
00:09:30.259 --> 00:09:33.100
what landing page builder are you using? Are
00:09:33.100 --> 00:09:35.759
you running ads or not? What offer are you using
00:09:35.759 --> 00:09:37.960
to get people to opt into your email newsletter,
00:09:38.100 --> 00:09:39.960
right? I want to get into the weeds. And so we
00:09:39.960 --> 00:09:43.039
make sure that the session content, the panels
00:09:43.039 --> 00:09:46.269
and our moderator or moderators are going. because
00:09:46.269 --> 00:09:48.690
that's what people really want. And then we leave
00:09:48.690 --> 00:09:51.889
time after for Q &A and open networking. So we
00:09:51.889 --> 00:09:54.350
then facilitate conversations with everybody
00:09:54.350 --> 00:09:56.929
who's there. We don't necessarily do a ton with
00:09:56.929 --> 00:09:58.490
trying to make sure everybody in the room goes
00:09:58.490 --> 00:10:00.590
around, although we do some things often with
00:10:00.590 --> 00:10:03.070
trying to get people to show who they are for
00:10:03.070 --> 00:10:04.509
other people that want to connect with them.
00:10:04.870 --> 00:10:06.929
But that's really what it's all about for us
00:10:06.929 --> 00:10:09.850
is we want to provide some content. That's a
00:10:09.850 --> 00:10:12.570
lot of the reason why people show up. But the
00:10:12.570 --> 00:10:15.159
networking is what everybody talks about. as
00:10:15.159 --> 00:10:17.240
being the reason that they love it so much is
00:10:17.240 --> 00:10:19.500
the people they meet afterwards, the five to
00:10:19.500 --> 00:10:21.480
10 people they chatted with after the event.
00:10:21.620 --> 00:10:23.799
And sometimes that's the speakers, right? Sometimes
00:10:23.799 --> 00:10:25.600
I really wanted to connect with so -and -so and
00:10:25.600 --> 00:10:27.500
they were so helpful. Other times it was like,
00:10:27.559 --> 00:10:29.559
hey, somebody two rows behind me, it turns out
00:10:29.559 --> 00:10:31.639
they're in the same position I'm in and we're
00:10:31.639 --> 00:10:33.299
now sharing notes and we're going to get coffee
00:10:33.299 --> 00:10:35.559
next week. That happens all the time with our
00:10:35.559 --> 00:10:42.379
group. Excellent. Because when I produce an event,
00:10:42.580 --> 00:10:45.139
I have an event coming up actually in March.
00:10:45.460 --> 00:10:49.919
People talk about what's happening with other
00:10:49.919 --> 00:10:52.860
people. Yes, they came to see all the businesses,
00:10:53.000 --> 00:10:56.250
but they want to see other people. having the
00:10:56.250 --> 00:10:59.330
same problems that they're having and how do
00:10:59.330 --> 00:11:02.049
they get out of it? So part of our event, part
00:11:02.049 --> 00:11:05.210
of our weekly network meetings is that we take
00:11:05.210 --> 00:11:08.409
the last 20 minutes, we take two people and say,
00:11:08.450 --> 00:11:12.789
okay, what problems are you having? Or who do
00:11:12.789 --> 00:11:16.529
you want to go and see? Who can't you go in and
00:11:16.529 --> 00:11:19.190
see? Or who are you having a problem going and
00:11:19.190 --> 00:11:22.450
seeing? And undoubtedly 15 people saying, I have
00:11:22.450 --> 00:11:24.669
a contact. Yeah. And let me help you with that.
00:11:24.730 --> 00:11:27.850
And it goes. a long way, but I love so much more
00:11:27.850 --> 00:11:30.210
natural. It's so much more natural to where you
00:11:30.210 --> 00:11:33.250
meet somebody say that works on retention, but
00:11:33.250 --> 00:11:36.490
you're an ad buyer. They, the retention person,
00:11:36.549 --> 00:11:37.870
you become friends. They want to introduce you
00:11:37.870 --> 00:11:39.549
to the ad buyer in their company. Like it's just
00:11:39.549 --> 00:11:42.309
so much simpler where we just create a space.
00:11:42.750 --> 00:11:45.070
I do think that there's a lot of, as we've done
00:11:45.070 --> 00:11:47.590
it longer, we've consistently created spaces
00:11:47.590 --> 00:11:49.929
where people feel comfortable showing up to learn
00:11:49.929 --> 00:11:52.190
and connect. And those are the people that keep
00:11:52.190 --> 00:11:55.409
coming out. So if you're a really strong salesperson
00:11:55.409 --> 00:11:57.309
and you're viewing it as like potential legion
00:11:57.309 --> 00:11:59.710
for your service, those people do come, but they
00:11:59.710 --> 00:12:02.850
go most of the time because you're not getting
00:12:02.850 --> 00:12:04.889
a ton there. You'll turn people off. You show
00:12:04.889 --> 00:12:06.309
up with your authentic self, you're going to
00:12:06.309 --> 00:12:07.909
meet a ton of other people with their authentic
00:12:07.909 --> 00:12:11.870
selves. Absolutely. What we do with our networking
00:12:11.870 --> 00:12:15.789
events is I am heading the whole event, but I
00:12:15.789 --> 00:12:19.110
say you go in with a servant's heart. You go
00:12:19.110 --> 00:12:22.440
in looking to give. Instead of receiving. 100%.
00:12:22.440 --> 00:12:25.740
When you do that, you take all that pressure
00:12:25.740 --> 00:12:29.679
off your shoulders. And you're just there. All
00:12:29.679 --> 00:12:31.940
of a sudden, you're having a good time. You're
00:12:31.940 --> 00:12:34.539
meeting some great people. And you're looking
00:12:34.539 --> 00:12:37.840
to see how you can help other people. So it's
00:12:37.840 --> 00:12:42.559
a great combination. Okay. So which responsibility
00:12:42.559 --> 00:12:46.100
does the event host carry for the quality of
00:12:46.100 --> 00:12:49.929
connections that happen in a room? I'd say a
00:12:49.929 --> 00:12:56.230
hundred percent. That's what I feel anyway. Yeah.
00:12:56.309 --> 00:13:00.649
It's really, that's my biggest thing. It's if
00:13:00.649 --> 00:13:03.409
I'm there in a room when we got 50 people, everyone
00:13:03.409 --> 00:13:06.070
that I've met there or that I know there, I am
00:13:06.070 --> 00:13:09.210
trying to connect with somebody else there. And
00:13:09.210 --> 00:13:11.049
that's me doing the manual work of doing that.
00:13:11.149 --> 00:13:14.340
But it's also, as I've said, like I. We want
00:13:14.340 --> 00:13:16.500
people to show up that want to hang out a little
00:13:16.500 --> 00:13:19.519
while after or that view that networking connection
00:13:19.519 --> 00:13:22.139
piece as being really valuable because that's
00:13:22.139 --> 00:13:24.399
what we're offering. So it's a huge thing for
00:13:24.399 --> 00:13:27.580
me. It's what gets me excited. It's what motivates.
00:13:27.700 --> 00:13:29.899
Honestly, Michael, it's like what made me feel
00:13:29.899 --> 00:13:32.980
like this was a special calling for me was. not
00:13:32.980 --> 00:13:34.820
just being a B2B marketer and trying to sell
00:13:34.820 --> 00:13:36.700
software or something like that. It's, hey, no,
00:13:36.860 --> 00:13:39.379
actually I can facilitate connections for a lot
00:13:39.379 --> 00:13:41.820
of people. It makes me feel really good to help
00:13:41.820 --> 00:13:43.620
people get, like we have people that have bought
00:13:43.620 --> 00:13:45.480
and sold businesses out of our community that
00:13:45.480 --> 00:13:47.879
find their next job or that hire people. Like
00:13:47.879 --> 00:13:49.899
these are life -changing events that are coming
00:13:49.899 --> 00:13:51.879
out of a simple networking group. And that's
00:13:51.879 --> 00:13:54.000
really important to me. And I wouldn't do it
00:13:54.000 --> 00:13:56.559
if it was just a profit motivation or anything
00:13:56.559 --> 00:13:59.940
other than that too. Yeah, no, I'm with you 100%.
00:13:59.940 --> 00:14:02.919
I feel 100 % responsible. Because if they're
00:14:02.919 --> 00:14:06.240
coming to this meeting, I brought them all together.
00:14:06.500 --> 00:14:10.980
Okay, whether it's five businesses, 15, 25 businesses,
00:14:11.080 --> 00:14:14.259
I brought them together. So I want them to get
00:14:14.259 --> 00:14:18.220
the most out of it. I always feel 100 % responsible.
00:14:18.840 --> 00:14:23.480
Okay. What small detail, often overlooked, has
00:14:23.480 --> 00:14:26.679
the biggest impact on whether people feel comfortable
00:14:26.679 --> 00:14:33.899
engaging at an event? For me, I love self -deprecating
00:14:33.899 --> 00:14:40.580
humor, and I almost always will open with a joke
00:14:40.580 --> 00:14:43.700
making fun of... some clothing choice or how
00:14:43.700 --> 00:14:45.860
my wife helped me dress or something like that.
00:14:46.139 --> 00:14:48.559
I really do believe in creating open spaces.
00:14:48.639 --> 00:14:51.860
And I want people to feel like not to make it
00:14:51.860 --> 00:14:53.960
political in any way. I just want people, regardless
00:14:53.960 --> 00:14:56.940
of your race, creed, gender, color, whatever,
00:14:57.080 --> 00:14:59.500
that you feel welcome and that you feel like
00:14:59.500 --> 00:15:01.620
it's a safe space. And that's something that
00:15:01.620 --> 00:15:03.840
it's a little nuanced. We just try to make sure
00:15:03.840 --> 00:15:06.200
everybody feels like your voice matters. You
00:15:06.200 --> 00:15:08.960
can ask questions, you can be involved. And if
00:15:08.960 --> 00:15:11.039
somebody is like way off the rails, then I talk
00:15:11.039 --> 00:15:13.500
to them. one -on -one but that's something that
00:15:13.500 --> 00:15:15.240
we've gotten a lot of feedback too is that people
00:15:15.240 --> 00:15:17.960
feel comfortable like being wrong so we've also
00:15:17.960 --> 00:15:20.220
done some events where i asked the panels to
00:15:20.220 --> 00:15:22.639
share like the dumbest like a finance panel what's
00:15:22.639 --> 00:15:25.139
the dumbest blunder you made what's the silliest
00:15:25.139 --> 00:15:27.039
thing you did or the thing that you are just
00:15:27.039 --> 00:15:28.700
i wish i could go back in time and undo that
00:15:28.700 --> 00:15:31.519
because that makes the everyone there feel like
00:15:31.799 --> 00:15:33.940
Yeah, we're all trying to, we're all making mistakes.
00:15:33.980 --> 00:15:35.779
I'll try to figure out. So that's how I've approached
00:15:35.779 --> 00:15:37.840
it. And I feel like that's a really good one
00:15:37.840 --> 00:15:40.139
because otherwise like icebreakers and stuff
00:15:40.139 --> 00:15:42.559
like that are just a mechanism for trying to
00:15:42.559 --> 00:15:44.899
enable some of that. You keep talking about vibe.
00:15:45.279 --> 00:15:47.620
It's really hard to set a vibe, but people know
00:15:47.620 --> 00:15:50.679
when it's off. And so you have to look at small
00:15:50.679 --> 00:15:53.779
ways you're positively influencing the vibe in
00:15:53.779 --> 00:15:55.700
the room. Otherwise people just will be turned
00:15:55.700 --> 00:16:00.000
off. And that's so true. I didn't mean to turn
00:16:00.000 --> 00:16:03.159
away, but I wrote down the word blunder because
00:16:03.159 --> 00:16:06.539
in my next networking meeting, that is what I'm
00:16:06.539 --> 00:16:08.720
going to break out. Okay. I always start the
00:16:08.720 --> 00:16:12.039
meeting off with a self -deprecating joke or
00:16:12.039 --> 00:16:13.960
something or whatever. And it gets everybody
00:16:13.960 --> 00:16:16.600
to laugh. But I'm going to bring that up the
00:16:16.600 --> 00:16:19.299
next time. So I want to thank you for that. Okay.
00:16:20.519 --> 00:16:24.259
In your experience, what does the structure of
00:16:24.259 --> 00:16:28.509
an event? shape the behavior and mindset of the
00:16:28.509 --> 00:16:32.529
attendees. Yeah, no, that's a great one. I'll
00:16:32.529 --> 00:16:34.649
tell you this, an event structure that we've
00:16:34.649 --> 00:16:37.009
tried a couple of times and has not worked out
00:16:37.009 --> 00:16:39.610
well is I keep thinking I want to do a real hands
00:16:39.610 --> 00:16:42.129
-on. So let's say you're building an email, like,
00:16:42.149 --> 00:16:44.929
hey, come build the emails you need for your
00:16:44.929 --> 00:16:48.250
business, a welcome flow for new customers. And
00:16:48.250 --> 00:16:50.389
we want, we want to lay it, set out tables and
00:16:50.389 --> 00:16:52.590
people can bring their computers and we're going
00:16:52.590 --> 00:16:54.450
to go step by step. We'll have people in the
00:16:54.450 --> 00:16:56.549
audience to go person if there's questions and
00:16:56.549 --> 00:16:58.669
people just don't want to open up their computers
00:16:58.669 --> 00:17:00.870
and do that. They want to pay attention and take
00:17:00.870 --> 00:17:03.029
notes, but they want to work on it on their own.
00:17:03.370 --> 00:17:06.349
And so that structure I've struggled to make
00:17:06.349 --> 00:17:09.769
happen because I'm trying what I think will be
00:17:09.769 --> 00:17:12.970
helpful, but people aren't wanting to show up
00:17:12.970 --> 00:17:15.710
in that way. And so for me, I've found that.
00:17:16.220 --> 00:17:18.680
We just structure the content a little bit differently.
00:17:18.859 --> 00:17:22.640
So if it's more about, do I want somebody to
00:17:22.640 --> 00:17:25.220
show you their playbook? Hey, here's how we do
00:17:25.220 --> 00:17:27.660
emails. And we're going to step, step by step.
00:17:27.779 --> 00:17:30.059
And for me, the signal is how many times are
00:17:30.059 --> 00:17:32.579
people taking their phones out to take pictures
00:17:32.579 --> 00:17:35.460
of a screen? That's okay. I'm, I really want
00:17:35.460 --> 00:17:38.819
to look at that later versus say like a panel
00:17:38.819 --> 00:17:42.289
is more like sharing ideas. or we'll often do
00:17:42.289 --> 00:17:45.130
like round tables where we're facilitating like
00:17:45.130 --> 00:17:48.690
discussions amongst the group so that type of
00:17:48.690 --> 00:17:51.250
format does change how people show up and how
00:17:51.250 --> 00:17:54.509
they engage Am I taking notes furiously as you're
00:17:54.509 --> 00:17:56.950
walking through your playbook? Am I just getting
00:17:56.950 --> 00:17:59.650
some really great ideas here from the panel?
00:17:59.730 --> 00:18:02.430
Or, hey, I can actually ask questions for my
00:18:02.430 --> 00:18:04.650
specific problems in this roundtable format.
00:18:04.789 --> 00:18:07.089
It's how we've been figuring things out and are
00:18:07.089 --> 00:18:08.609
continuing. And we do those formats at our big
00:18:08.609 --> 00:18:10.509
conference. I try to do a version of each of
00:18:10.509 --> 00:18:12.730
those things because it's just a different layer
00:18:12.730 --> 00:18:16.190
of information and how people can digest that.
00:18:16.250 --> 00:18:17.950
Because it's really hard to say be at a full
00:18:17.950 --> 00:18:19.630
day workshop where you're taking notes furiously
00:18:19.630 --> 00:18:21.529
the entire time. You need to break it up for
00:18:21.529 --> 00:18:24.549
people. Yeah, my workshops are about three hours.
00:18:24.750 --> 00:18:28.329
So it's a half day workshop. But that's how I
00:18:28.329 --> 00:18:32.150
can tell if I'm getting the point across by how
00:18:32.150 --> 00:18:34.950
many times people take the cameras out and take
00:18:34.950 --> 00:18:38.269
a picture of my slide. So I'm a decent judge
00:18:38.269 --> 00:18:42.470
of that. And when nobody did it, my entire workshop,
00:18:42.730 --> 00:18:46.400
something was wrong. I messed up on somewhere,
00:18:46.500 --> 00:18:49.160
somehow. But I'll go back and I'll check that
00:18:49.160 --> 00:18:51.900
and I'll change that and correct it. But that's
00:18:51.900 --> 00:18:55.839
how I can tell. You focus on building communities
00:18:55.839 --> 00:18:59.720
in person. What changes when people see each
00:18:59.720 --> 00:19:02.799
other regularly instead of just one -off events?
00:19:04.640 --> 00:19:07.980
It's relationships and those connections. You
00:19:07.980 --> 00:19:10.819
start hearing about personal things like I'm
00:19:10.819 --> 00:19:13.730
having a baby, I'm getting married. moving to
00:19:13.730 --> 00:19:16.369
this new company. And the fun part about that
00:19:16.369 --> 00:19:18.910
is that does deepen the connection, but it also
00:19:18.910 --> 00:19:21.630
actually just creates more context for, hey,
00:19:21.690 --> 00:19:23.529
I'm moving to this new company. Do you know anybody
00:19:23.529 --> 00:19:25.910
who's doing X, Y, Z? Because we're hiring for
00:19:25.910 --> 00:19:28.750
that too, right? It's, hey, we're starting this
00:19:28.750 --> 00:19:31.250
new initiative. Do you want to partner on it
00:19:31.250 --> 00:19:33.190
with us? That kind of thing. That's what I find
00:19:33.190 --> 00:19:35.900
when more and more people show up. They become
00:19:35.900 --> 00:19:39.220
resources for each other. Like early on our community,
00:19:39.400 --> 00:19:42.660
I spent a lot of the connection was just me connecting
00:19:42.660 --> 00:19:45.720
people. And we have a Slack community with about
00:19:45.720 --> 00:19:48.660
1300 people in it. And a lot of early on was
00:19:48.660 --> 00:19:52.720
me just trying to poke the audience to get with
00:19:52.720 --> 00:19:55.079
some fake questions to get some people to respond.
00:19:56.740 --> 00:19:59.119
Now, when you're talking about a community, a
00:19:59.119 --> 00:20:02.200
real community is not based off of Matt's network
00:20:02.200 --> 00:20:04.500
of relationships. It's based off of the relationships
00:20:04.500 --> 00:20:07.259
in the group. And so that doesn't happen without.
00:20:08.279 --> 00:20:11.000
seeing people regularly or interacting with them
00:20:11.000 --> 00:20:13.119
on Slack in addition to seeing them regularly.
00:20:13.420 --> 00:20:16.279
And so now there are people that are solving
00:20:16.279 --> 00:20:18.200
each other's problems, and I have no idea that
00:20:18.200 --> 00:20:19.839
it's happening. There are people that are inviting
00:20:19.839 --> 00:20:21.680
people to upcoming events, and I have no idea
00:20:21.680 --> 00:20:23.460
that it's happening. So that's the beauty that
00:20:23.460 --> 00:20:25.759
you get when you start. That's why that consistency
00:20:25.759 --> 00:20:28.700
matters. It matters not just for your content,
00:20:28.740 --> 00:20:33.420
but for the people. I agree 100%. 100%. It's
00:20:33.420 --> 00:20:36.109
the difference. between a group of attendees
00:20:36.109 --> 00:20:41.809
and an actual business community? Yeah, I think
00:20:41.809 --> 00:20:44.430
it's, what are people doing when they're not
00:20:44.430 --> 00:20:46.230
there? And that's like similar to what I was
00:20:46.230 --> 00:20:48.029
just saying, is that I come here to learn and
00:20:48.029 --> 00:20:50.230
then I go back to my business. I come here to
00:20:50.230 --> 00:20:52.509
learn. I'm going to go talk to so -and -so and
00:20:52.509 --> 00:20:54.170
so because they can help me in my business too.
00:20:54.309 --> 00:20:56.509
And that's, I think that's that secondary one
00:20:56.509 --> 00:20:58.730
of feeling like you're connected, that you have
00:20:58.730 --> 00:21:01.549
friends and allies. Again, our whole biggest
00:21:01.549 --> 00:21:03.390
thing is like, if you've been using a tool or
00:21:03.390 --> 00:21:05.450
you're struggling with a landing page builder
00:21:05.450 --> 00:21:08.390
or an email builder, okay, I can hop onto my
00:21:08.390 --> 00:21:11.069
Slack group and ask this question. And then I
00:21:11.069 --> 00:21:13.250
get four or five responses and, oh yeah, I remember
00:21:13.250 --> 00:21:15.470
Jenny. She actually was on a panel about this
00:21:15.470 --> 00:21:17.390
two months ago. I'm going to, I'm going to pay
00:21:17.390 --> 00:21:19.759
attention to this or. Somebody else is going
00:21:19.759 --> 00:21:22.220
to jump on there and say, if you haven't heard
00:21:22.220 --> 00:21:24.880
from Jenny before, she's a real pro and she knows
00:21:24.880 --> 00:21:26.460
what she's talking about. And that's happening
00:21:26.460 --> 00:21:29.799
all the time because of those connections. Okay.
00:21:30.940 --> 00:21:34.920
Do you encourage collaboration instead of competition
00:21:34.920 --> 00:21:38.299
when you bring professionals from similar industries
00:21:38.299 --> 00:21:42.859
into the same room? Yeah, that one's a little
00:21:42.859 --> 00:21:45.779
tricky because... Sometimes we get, if we have
00:21:45.779 --> 00:21:47.859
sponsors involved, we have to be a little bit
00:21:47.859 --> 00:21:50.259
more careful, right? If I have a sponsor on email,
00:21:50.500 --> 00:21:53.500
I'm not going to bring in an email expert from
00:21:53.500 --> 00:21:58.000
a competitor. But other than that, we just push
00:21:58.000 --> 00:22:00.180
really hard on that collaboration element that
00:22:00.180 --> 00:22:04.500
if you feel threatened by other people that do
00:22:04.500 --> 00:22:06.859
what you do, this probably isn't going to be
00:22:06.859 --> 00:22:08.799
the best space for you because that's a really
00:22:08.799 --> 00:22:13.650
bad vibe. The vibe should be. I do A, B, C, you
00:22:13.650 --> 00:22:16.509
might do A, B, D, but that's okay. We have some
00:22:16.509 --> 00:22:19.609
overlap and we have different opinions. The audience,
00:22:19.750 --> 00:22:22.470
because from my perspective, the audience actually
00:22:22.470 --> 00:22:25.829
needs different and sometimes conflicting opinions.
00:22:26.329 --> 00:22:28.950
Because if they hear the same thing and they
00:22:28.950 --> 00:22:30.650
hear the same thing online and the same thing
00:22:30.650 --> 00:22:32.980
when they're hitting chat GPT. They're really
00:22:32.980 --> 00:22:34.799
not learning and they're not being pushed to
00:22:34.799 --> 00:22:36.900
try to test that as a hypothesis for their own
00:22:36.900 --> 00:22:38.900
business. Because as we all know, there's no
00:22:38.900 --> 00:22:40.900
real universal rules that work for everybody
00:22:40.900 --> 00:22:43.619
in every place and every time. And so competitive
00:22:43.619 --> 00:22:45.960
views are important. And we often will try to
00:22:45.960 --> 00:22:48.059
balance that with, say, a panel of three people
00:22:48.059 --> 00:22:50.819
might be a person who's, say, I'll use HR, say
00:22:50.819 --> 00:22:53.480
an HR representative from a company, an HR representative
00:22:53.480 --> 00:22:56.500
from a company, but then they have an HR consultant.
00:22:57.470 --> 00:22:59.650
And so that way we can get different perspectives.
00:22:59.769 --> 00:23:02.210
Hey, in our company of this size, these are our
00:23:02.210 --> 00:23:04.490
pain points and what we're doing. Well, our company
00:23:04.490 --> 00:23:06.029
is a little bit of a different size and we're
00:23:06.029 --> 00:23:07.970
using a different software and we have some of
00:23:07.970 --> 00:23:09.630
these other concerns. And then the third person's
00:23:09.630 --> 00:23:11.329
like, yeah, I've seen those two things and 50
00:23:11.329 --> 00:23:13.430
other things. And here's a lot of things to keep
00:23:13.430 --> 00:23:16.029
in mind. And those different perspectives are,
00:23:16.069 --> 00:23:18.170
I think, what's most valuable when you have a
00:23:18.170 --> 00:23:19.750
room full of 50 people and you're not exactly
00:23:19.750 --> 00:23:22.230
sure. Not everybody has the same problems that
00:23:22.230 --> 00:23:25.700
need to be solved. Companies vary in size, obviously,
00:23:25.700 --> 00:23:29.180
and use different size. I'm just using your HR
00:23:29.180 --> 00:23:33.339
thing. But you can't compare a company that has
00:23:33.339 --> 00:23:37.319
50 employees to one that has 15 employees to
00:23:37.319 --> 00:23:40.519
the one that just has a mom and pop. So different
00:23:40.519 --> 00:23:44.019
needs for different people. And different people,
00:23:44.180 --> 00:23:49.119
they promote exactly what they're after, which
00:23:49.119 --> 00:23:53.009
is, oh, I just like companies that are. 50 people
00:23:53.009 --> 00:23:56.170
and above. I only like people, I don't like companies
00:23:56.170 --> 00:23:59.910
from 20 to 50 employees. I only, and they have
00:23:59.910 --> 00:24:03.150
their differences. So you get a completely different
00:24:03.150 --> 00:24:07.009
perspective on the same issue, but from different
00:24:07.009 --> 00:24:12.009
companies. So yes. Okay. So what habits should
00:24:12.009 --> 00:24:15.710
attendees adopt after an event to turn good conversation
00:24:15.710 --> 00:24:19.759
into lasting relationships? I think it comes
00:24:19.759 --> 00:24:21.759
back to this specific thing. I always, it's not
00:24:21.759 --> 00:24:24.019
just how you show up when you're being like,
00:24:24.160 --> 00:24:26.539
I'm specifically that this is what I'm, how I'm
00:24:26.539 --> 00:24:28.599
showing with this event, but also specific asks.
00:24:29.140 --> 00:24:31.900
I think for the hard part is when you meet somebody
00:24:31.900 --> 00:24:34.599
new, they're doing cool stuff. You think maybe
00:24:34.599 --> 00:24:36.559
you could be friends or that you should collaborate
00:24:36.559 --> 00:24:39.279
on something. Can you think of a specific next
00:24:39.279 --> 00:24:42.660
step? Hey, I'd love to pick your brain on this
00:24:42.660 --> 00:24:44.880
one area of your business. Can we get coffee
00:24:44.880 --> 00:24:47.329
sometime? do a Zoom call or something like that.
00:24:47.390 --> 00:24:49.430
I think that's really important is just being
00:24:49.430 --> 00:24:51.549
really specific in how you show up, but also
00:24:51.549 --> 00:24:54.410
what you ask of other people. And then, yeah,
00:24:54.509 --> 00:24:56.670
I think it is just like looking for, I always
00:24:56.670 --> 00:24:58.589
like asking other people too, what other events
00:24:58.589 --> 00:25:00.430
are you going to? What other things like this
00:25:00.430 --> 00:25:02.990
are going on? Because there might be stuff that,
00:25:03.009 --> 00:25:04.990
you know, that maybe I didn't know about so that
00:25:04.990 --> 00:25:06.630
I could show up to that too. And that's another
00:25:06.630 --> 00:25:12.180
touch point. Yeah, my biggest thing. with when
00:25:12.180 --> 00:25:15.900
I go on stages or I do a workshop or even coaching,
00:25:16.079 --> 00:25:19.740
I always tell them that the follow -up is so
00:25:19.740 --> 00:25:21.920
much more important than even meeting the person.
00:25:22.579 --> 00:25:25.440
Your follow -up is just so important. And it's
00:25:25.440 --> 00:25:28.619
not only that you follow up, but how you follow
00:25:28.619 --> 00:25:31.440
up, when you follow up, what do you say when
00:25:31.440 --> 00:25:34.359
you follow up? All of this is so very important,
00:25:34.579 --> 00:25:36.420
whether you're going to turn the other person
00:25:36.420 --> 00:25:38.920
off or just say, hey, that's a great idea. Let's
00:25:38.920 --> 00:25:41.240
grab a cup of coffee. There's so much involved
00:25:41.240 --> 00:25:45.380
with that. Okay, let's bring this full circle.
00:25:46.119 --> 00:25:49.099
If someone wanted to build a strong, trusted
00:25:49.099 --> 00:25:52.279
business community from scratch, what's the first
00:25:52.279 --> 00:25:55.220
decision that they must get? You got to understand
00:25:55.220 --> 00:25:58.019
the need. It's really easy to see a community
00:25:58.019 --> 00:26:01.000
or people look at my business and they go, oh,
00:26:01.039 --> 00:26:03.720
wow, if I could get. 50 of my customers in a
00:26:03.720 --> 00:26:05.839
room every month voluntarily, that would be amazing.
00:26:06.039 --> 00:26:08.240
It would be amazing. That's not how the world
00:26:08.240 --> 00:26:10.859
works. So understanding a real need. And so for
00:26:10.859 --> 00:26:13.359
us, like I've said, that need is around people
00:26:13.359 --> 00:26:16.980
really wanting insightful information on what
00:26:16.980 --> 00:26:19.140
they could do inside their business and also
00:26:19.140 --> 00:26:22.599
the power of community. You need to be thinking
00:26:22.599 --> 00:26:24.720
really clearly about what problem you're solving
00:26:24.720 --> 00:26:27.059
and also think through all the other ways that
00:26:27.059 --> 00:26:29.319
people are answering that problem. I think the
00:26:29.319 --> 00:26:31.079
hard part is like entrepreneurs and business
00:26:31.079 --> 00:26:32.779
owners is that we think that what we're coming
00:26:32.779 --> 00:26:36.880
up with is unique when the reality is 55 ,000,
00:26:36.920 --> 00:26:39.039
5 million people are already thinking of that
00:26:39.039 --> 00:26:41.000
same problem and have different opinions on it.
00:26:41.039 --> 00:26:43.700
So you come up with that idea and then test it.
00:26:43.740 --> 00:26:45.759
It should be like any other business idea or
00:26:45.759 --> 00:26:47.539
any kind of experiment. You have a hypothesis.
00:26:47.759 --> 00:26:51.059
Hey, we think that. We're struggling to get operations
00:26:51.059 --> 00:26:53.279
people, like people that do sourcing and fulfillment.
00:26:53.519 --> 00:26:56.319
They're typically not big networkers, like marketers
00:26:56.319 --> 00:26:59.440
or networkers, usually, in our experience. We're
00:26:59.440 --> 00:27:03.079
trying to create more opportunities for those
00:27:03.079 --> 00:27:06.000
operators to come out because we think that they
00:27:06.000 --> 00:27:08.660
would actually appreciate connecting with their
00:27:08.660 --> 00:27:11.339
peers. There's just not really a format for them
00:27:11.339 --> 00:27:13.599
to do that. I might be totally wrong in the next
00:27:13.599 --> 00:27:15.950
couple of months. pivot into something else for
00:27:15.950 --> 00:27:17.589
that part of our group. But that's how you got
00:27:17.589 --> 00:27:20.049
to evaluate the pain point and think if your
00:27:20.049 --> 00:27:23.390
solution will actually answer that. And then
00:27:23.390 --> 00:27:24.769
again, it comes to everything else I've already
00:27:24.769 --> 00:27:27.109
said about, you have a goal now for the event.
00:27:27.190 --> 00:27:29.690
You need to make sure that you're managing everything
00:27:29.690 --> 00:27:31.829
related to the event so that goal can be achieved.
00:27:32.950 --> 00:27:36.789
It's great, valuable information. This is such
00:27:36.789 --> 00:27:39.890
golden information. I can't begin to tell you.
00:27:39.930 --> 00:27:41.970
And I'm saying that from somebody who knows.
00:27:42.269 --> 00:27:45.049
Okay. So obviously you just know what you're
00:27:45.049 --> 00:27:49.210
talking about. If somebody wants to contact you
00:27:49.210 --> 00:27:52.569
about an event or they live in Utah or whatever
00:27:52.569 --> 00:27:55.130
the case may be, what's the best way that they
00:27:55.130 --> 00:27:57.529
can get ahold of you? Yeah, you can find me on
00:27:57.529 --> 00:27:59.730
LinkedIn, Matthew Holman on LinkedIn, or come
00:27:59.730 --> 00:28:02.529
check out our website, ccatalyst .co, if you
00:28:02.529 --> 00:28:04.730
want to come to an event in the future. We're
00:28:04.730 --> 00:28:06.750
open, willing. When you were asking that competition
00:28:06.750 --> 00:28:08.569
question earlier, I was smiling, thinking like
00:28:08.569 --> 00:28:10.769
there are other communities and events and conferences
00:28:10.769 --> 00:28:13.390
that have come and gone in Utah. And we love
00:28:13.390 --> 00:28:15.130
working and collaborating with anybody because
00:28:15.130 --> 00:28:17.289
our whole mission is just to connect and empower
00:28:17.289 --> 00:28:20.490
people. So we don't view anybody as a competitor
00:28:20.490 --> 00:28:24.579
in that space. Great. This is the difference
00:28:24.579 --> 00:28:27.859
between attending events and belonging to something
00:28:27.859 --> 00:28:31.700
bigger. Real networking isn't accidental. It's
00:28:31.700 --> 00:28:34.839
designed. It's guided. And when it's done, it
00:28:34.839 --> 00:28:37.720
creates a momentum that carries long after the
00:28:37.720 --> 00:28:40.779
room emptied. If today's conversation made you
00:28:40.779 --> 00:28:44.099
rethink how you show up at events, who you connect
00:28:44.099 --> 00:28:47.279
with, or how you would build relationships over
00:28:47.279 --> 00:28:51.099
time, take one action this week. Reach out, follow
00:28:51.099 --> 00:28:54.779
up. Be intentional. Share this episode with someone
00:28:54.779 --> 00:28:57.819
who hosts events, builds communities, or wants
00:28:57.819 --> 00:29:00.940
stronger business relationships. Make sure you
00:29:00.940 --> 00:29:03.680
subscribe to Networking Unleashed, building profitable
00:29:03.680 --> 00:29:06.000
connections, so you don't miss conversations
00:29:06.000 --> 00:29:08.940
that help you connect smarter and grow stronger.
00:29:09.119 --> 00:29:12.059
And if you're ready to build relationships that
00:29:12.059 --> 00:29:15.319
actually move your business forward, visit foreman
00:29:15.319 --> 00:29:18.000
.com to learn how I work with professionals,
00:29:18.160 --> 00:29:21.359
teams, and organizations. So until next time,
00:29:21.400 --> 00:29:23.859
show up with purpose, connect with intention,
00:29:24.119 --> 00:29:27.960
and build communities that last. Matt, I want
00:29:27.960 --> 00:29:29.740
to thank you again for coming on the podcast.
00:29:30.119 --> 00:29:33.240
You were a great guest. Thanks. You're a great
00:29:33.240 --> 00:29:39.940
host. Well, hold on, folks. Don't go anywhere.
00:29:40.259 --> 00:29:43.599
Let's hear from our sponsors. David Neal, co
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to revvedupkids .org. Henry Kaplan, Century 21.
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When it comes to making the biggest financial
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of a proven professional, Henry Kaplan. Henry
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celebrating his 41st year in business. No matter
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where you're moving, Henry has the right connections
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for you. You can contact Henry at 561 -427 -4888.
00:30:31.259 --> 00:30:34.299
A huge thank you to our guests for sharing such...
00:30:34.680 --> 00:30:38.000
insights today. And of course, a big shout out
00:30:38.000 --> 00:30:41.319
to you, our amazing listeners, for tuning in
00:30:41.319 --> 00:30:44.220
and spending your time with us. If you're interested
00:30:44.220 --> 00:30:47.559
in my digital courses, being coached or having
00:30:47.559 --> 00:30:50.700
me come and talk to your company, just go to
00:30:50.700 --> 00:30:53.920
Michael and fill out the request form. Remember,
00:30:54.259 --> 00:30:57.559
networking isn't about being perfect. It's about
00:30:57.559 --> 00:31:00.500
being present. So take what you've learned today,
00:31:00.680 --> 00:31:03.299
get out there and make some meaningful connections.
00:31:04.029 --> 00:31:06.950
If you've enjoyed this episode, please don't
00:31:06.950 --> 00:31:10.289
forget to subscribe. Leave us a review and share
00:31:10.289 --> 00:31:12.490
it with someone who could use a little networking
00:31:12.490 --> 00:31:15.490
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00:31:15.670 --> 00:31:20.210
You can find me on Apple, Spotify, Pandora, YouTube,
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